to think I'm being a bit naff?

[LaLaLaLayla]

OK, so I am an 'Executive Assistant' which is basically a secretary. I have just started a new job and have got the proof through for my business cards. I have a degree and am half way through my MBA. My business cards say this:

Layla Turner
BSc (Hons) PG Cert Bus Admin

Does this look a bit naff? For a secretary (I mean Executive Assistant?). My job title is not on the business cards.

Would really appreciate your honesty. Thanks.

Hi milkmilklemonade, I'm in Dubai. How about you?

between Dubai and Doha. Doha at the mo. It's bloody hot isn't it?

Yes, it's awful. And I have to get the Metro this morning. Just wondering if I will survive the 100 metres walk from my apartment to the Metro station .

Hey, do you have business cards? If so, may I ask what you have on them?

I work for a Qatari company so it has my name, designation, staff number, job title, office and mobile number and full name including embarrassing middle names. We are good at beurocracy here!

my sunglasses steamed up when I walked the dogs this morning.

Layla, if putting your quals on the card is what people do in the Gulf then go with that. I doubt very much that most of the people you give your card to will have any concept of what naffness is, and cultures outside the UK are certainly more into shouting about qualifications. I don't have mine on but I'm a lawyer so the qualification is implicit in the job title.

I do, however, have a hilarious Chinese name on the back, given to me by our head of HR, in a process which was akin to her naming her own child. It translates to "Elegant Jade Lady', on the basis that I was wearing a green dress the day I arrived and the last character sounds like the first syllable of my surname. I can't really pronounce it, can't write it, would not recognise it to answer to (speak only very basic Cantonese and Mandarin, not enough to converse) but it's all part of the game. I am told it sounds very pretty and girlish - or, as a typically direct Chinese colleague said to me "oh, vey nice, suprprised they picked something so feminine for you though".

What Aldiwhore said.

I would absolutely forget about your degrees on the cards in such an international environment. BSc (Hons) would be incomprehensible to an American. Well the (Hons) part (and the PG Cert Bus Admin bit) would anyway. And when you explained they would think it was all very quaint and not in the same league as their American qualifications. Preserve an element of mystery about your education.

You should put your job title, company name, and every last piece of contact information you have on your cards. The point is to allow people to know who you are, where you are, what you do now as opposed to what you spent five years studying for, and how to contact you.

I have never seen degrees on American business cards, but doctors might use M.D. after their name, and Ph.Ds would use that. Anything below the level of doctor of whatever ilk would have the job title only, no matter how ridiculous. Americans like being V.P. of whatever or Regional this or that Manager and this is what you will find on their cards for the most part, not their degrees, especially in a business environment where an MBA is a given.

Name and job title. Am not interested in your qualifications unless I am interviewing you for a job.
I live in China and have a business type card with my name and address on in English and Mandarin. I am not employed, but give them out as they are useful for address for taxi drivers. Also have chinese version of my name on there, but really want to give myself a cool name like xiao long (little dragon)!